Scottish Executive

Concessionary Travel

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-867 by Nicol Stephen on 14 July 2003, whether its extended concessionary fares scheme on public transport will cover other forms of travel such as train and ferry.

Nicol Stephen: As outlined in A Partnership for a Better Scotland , the Executive's priority for concessionary travel for elderly and disabled people is the introduction of a national free off-peak bus scheme.

European Funding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what European structural funding has been allocated in the south of Scotland and to which projects in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04 to date.

Lewis Macdonald: I have arranged for the information, in table form, to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 28234). No structural funding was allocated under the current Objective 2 Programme in 1999-2000 as the programme was not agreed until March 2001. The table will show European funding allocated in 2000-01. Thereafter it is shown on a yearly basis.

European Funding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what European structural funding has been allocated to each (a) local enterprise company, (b) local authority and (c) area tourist board in the south of Scotland in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, (iii) 2001-02, (iv) 2002-03 and (v) 2003-04 to date, expressed also as a percentage of the economic development budget of each body.

Lewis Macdonald: I have arranged for the information, in table form, to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 28235). No structural funding was allocated under the current Objective 2 Programme in 1999-2000 as the programme was not agreed until March 2001. The table will show European allocated in 2000-01 and thereafter it is shown on a yearly basis. The economic development budget of each body is not readily available.

Flooding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any powers to provide resources to Scottish Borders Housing Association to assist with remedial action required to flood-damaged properties at the Bannerfield Estate, Selkirk.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

  Through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, Communities Scotland has powers to provide resources through the Housing Association Grant (HAG) scheme to Registered Social Landlords to support them in the provision of new or improved housing for social rent and for low-cost home ownership.

  Registered Social Landlords are, however, responsible for the on-going maintenance and repair of their housing, including any remedial works.

Flooding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Bellwin Scheme can be applied to meet costs incurred by Scottish Borders Housing Association as a consequence of flood damage to its properties.

Tavish Scott: The Bellwin Scheme would not be applied in these circumstances as it provides emergency payments to local authorities. Damage to Scottish Borders Housing Association property is recognised as an insurable cost, which Scottish Borders Housing Association should seek to claim from its insurers.

Flooding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether housing associations are required to have emergency and contingency plans in place for events such as flooding.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 provides Scottish ministers with the power to set standards for the performance of housing associations and other Registered Social Landlords. Performance Standards are developed and published jointly by Communities Scotland, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and COSLA.

  The current published performance standards set out the performance expectation that housing associations will identify and appraise the most important risks they face, and take a prudent approach to managing them. In meeting this standard, housing associations are expected to carry out regular risk appraisals, to identify key risks and have in place an appropriate risk management strategy. This should include contingency plans to respond to emergency events such as flooding.

Flooding

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to intervene on health grounds should Scottish Borders Housing Association fail to carry out a health risk assessment following the flooding at the Bannerfield Estate, Selkirk.

Malcolm Chisholm: I understand that the Department of Public Health at NHS Borders has already undertaken a health risk assessment in consultation with Scottish Borders Housing Association.

  NHS Borders has also been involved in public meetings on this issue and discussions with the local authority and other relevant agencies have taken place.

Housing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to intervene should a housing association fail in its obligations to its tenants.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 provides Scottish ministers with powers to intervene to address poor performance by housing associations. These powers have been delegated to Communities Scotland.

  Where a housing association's performance is poor and it is failing to meet its obligations to tenants, Communities Scotland, on behalf of Scottish ministers, may:

  Remove members of the governing body of the housing association where their failure to act impedes the proper management of the organisation;

  Appoint persons to the governing body of the housing association for the purpose of improving the management of the organisation;

  Appoint a manager to the housing association, to ensure that the management of its affairs is of an appropriate standard, and

  Instruct a statutory inquiry into the affairs of the housing association, and (if required) a related Extraordinary Audit of its finances. If ministers conclude that there has been mismanagement or misconduct by the housing association, they have a further range of powers including directing the housing association to transfer its land to another registered landlord, following consultation with tenants.

Housing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to intervene if there is insufficient accommodation to house decanted housing association tenants.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 provides Scottish ministers with various powers in relation to housing associations and these powers have been delegated to Communities Scotland. However, Communities Scotland has no landlord function and no specific power to offer housing accommodation. The responsibility for finding suitable decant accommodation for tenants lies with the housing association. If approached by a housing association where there is insufficient accommodation to house decanted housing association tenants, Communities Scotland would support and assist the housing association by liasing with strategic partners and other housing providers in the area concerned to establish if additional accommodation could be made available by another social landlord.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the responsibilities of BEAR Scotland Ltd are in relation to ground maintenance on the trunk road network in the Highland Council area and, in particular, on the A9, A82, A87 and A96; what monitoring the Executive carries out to ensure that the ground maintenance responsibilities of BEAR Scotland Ltd under the trunk road maintenance contract are complied with, and whether it has made any representations to the company on this matter.

Nicol Stephen: BEAR's responsibilities for ground maintenance are specified in the Term contract for the management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network , a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 16573).

  BEAR's performance is monitored by the independent Performance Audit Group (PAG) on behalf of the Scottish Executive. PAG recently carried out an audit of BEAR's performance in the Highland Council area and confirmed that the standard of ground maintenance generally complied with the specification. In some instances contractual obligations have not been met and the Executive has taken the necessary action to ensure that BEAR rectify the identified problem.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns regarding the frequency and standard of grass cutting and ground maintenance on the trunk road network in the Highland Council area and, in particular, on the A9, A82, A87 and A96 and what action it has taken, or will take, as a result.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive monitors BEAR's performance with help from the independent Performance Audit Group (PAG). In some instances contractual obligations have not been met and the Executive has taken the necessary action to ensure that BEAR rectifies the identified problem. (There are currently no on-going concerns regarding the frequency and standard of grass cutting and ground maintenance on the trunk road network.)

Tourism

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its contract with eTourism Ltd contains performance criteria to cover the technical integrity of visitscotland.com.

Mr Frank McAveety: Ministerial approval to the eTourism joint venture partnership proposal was based on a detailed business case, the public version of which was placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre in October 2002 (Bib. number 27374). The business case covered a range of factors critical to the success of the joint venture including a number of performance criteria relating to service standards.

Youth Justice

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to procurators fiscal regarding liaison with youth justice teams in their area.

Colin Boyd QC: The National Standards for Youth Justice clarify the roles of, respectively, Youth Justice Services Teams and Youth Justice Strategy Groups, and their desired membership. Around the country many procurators fiscal have been invited to participate in the multi-agency strategy groups, which are run by local authorities. Those who have not yet attended reconstituted groups have been encouraged to approach the local chair.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer to whom the minutes of the Holyrood Progress Group meeting of 26 March 2003 were circulated.

Mr George Reid: A copy of the full minutes was circulated to members of the Holyrood Progress Group, members of the project team and the Clerk/Chief Executive. An extract of the minutes, excluding the private discussions, was circulated to the consultants in attendance, BLL, DLE and EMBT-RMJM Ltd. Following a request for this specific document, a copy of the extract was also issued to a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.